


Skip the Wine

by razthelin (zarinthel)



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: M/M, mention of Aymeric de Borel/Estinien Wyrmblood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-02
Updated: 2020-01-02
Packaged: 2021-02-27 06:53:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22082911
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zarinthel/pseuds/razthelin
Summary: this work stars my wol, Valerian Caligorne. hes a duskwight elezen blm|drk main.
Relationships: Aymeric de Borel/Warrior of Light
Comments: 3
Kudos: 51





	Skip the Wine

**Author's Note:**

> this work stars my wol, Valerian Caligorne. hes a duskwight elezen blm|drk main.

Aymeric heard the guard outside his office door speak up, warning him that he was about to have yet another complication on top of the mounds of paperwork preparing for the Ala Mhigan warfront was generating. For once, Ishgard didn’t lack for supplies, but that was not a situation that would last once they resumed the need to provide for an active warfront. Not to mention, the issue of funding--

“Ser Aymeric?” The soft, rough notes of the warrior of light’s voice jerks him from the whirling maelstrom of his churning thoughts. His hands still against his paperwork, and he looks up at Valerian in undisguised relief.. And trepidation. 

“Please.. I’ve told you before that there’s no need to stand on formality, my dear friend.” His eyes drink in the sight of the elezen in question, admiring the way he’s always stood taller than his short height, and the way his ever purple hair falls across his mismatched, violet eyes. Aymeric noted the close tailoring of his shirt...and his pants, and a faint hope rises in his chest. This type of clothing... wasn’t what Valerian wore when he was on business for the Scions of the Seventh Dawn. 

For good reason, Aymeric is sure. The Scions couldn’t have their champion causing maidens to faint in the street. 

Valerian smiles at him, and gives an awkward wave. 

“I didn’t want to interrupt you, but Lucia insisted that I not waste the time that I was here in Ishgard.” 

As Valerian continues to speak, Aymeric’s gaze falls on the heavy wristbands the warrior of light continues to wear. Emblazoned with the proud unicorn of House Fortemps, Valerian had never shied away from showing the pride of a ward-- or his loyalty to the beloved lord of Camp Dragonhead. Flickering away from that heavy thought, Aymeric’s mind catches up with the conversation. 

“And so, I came here to ask about that wine that you keep promising?” Valerian smiles at him, still his soft spoken, measured self. “I understand that you wished for us to spend another evening over dinner.. But--” As he speaks he glances over his shoulder at the door, as if even now another ill timed messenger would come to pound upon it, asking for him to return to his never ending duty. “I would share what little time we have together... in a more intimate setting.”

Aymeric hears his pen fall to the floor. How strange, he thinks distantly. In dreams, he’s usually more composed than this. The slight prickling heat that always seemed to burn at the back of his throat when he spent such time around Valerian seems to turn to a shocking, burning ice that slips from his throat as he swallows, slowly trickling through the rest of his body. His armour, worn so often that by now it was closer to a second skin, seems to lie heavy against him. 

“Lucia,” Aymeric said, his keeping his voice perfectly poised. Even through the door, he was confident she could hear him. “I’m going to be... retiring early, today. Don’t send any messengers unless it is truly an emergency beyond your extremely capable hands.” He hopes she won’t send one even if another Horde attacks. 

He can see the mild confusion in Valerian’s eyes, alongside something else...something that he had thought was only his imagination. Or at least, his imagination that it could be directed this way. 

“You don’t need to hurry on my account,” says Valerian. “I like watching you work.” 

There is the ever present weight to his words, that comes from Aymeric knowing Valerian has used the exact same tone to tell him that he would be going off to fight a primal unleashed from an ancient age, and so he’d be gone for a day or so. 

“I do hope you will enjoy my company more in a setting you have not gotten so familiar with,” Aymeric said, doing his best to match Valerian for the even, casual expression of appreciation. “And mayhaps I will change into a more..” Aymeric hesitates too long on this phrasing. Estinien would laugh himself silly if he could hear him right now. 

“You look good in armour, though.” 

Still, Valerian has done nothing but watch him. 

Aymeric has _definitely_ heard that line a thousand times before. There was no reason to have a.. To have a different reaction to hearing it from Valerian. 

“I have a coat, like the one you wore last time.” Why in Halone’s name was Valerian bringing this up? “I was trying it on for this, but decided it wasn’t really my style. But..there were good parts about it.” 

Aymeric distractedly finishes off and locks away his paperwork, standing up from his chair as Valerian completes his thought. 

“For example, it was easy to take off.” 

The constant calculations and contingency plans that are always whirring around in Aymeric’s head stutter.

He waits for Valerian to keep going, but the hero is silent, satisfied that he’s completed his thought. 

If only Aymeric could feel so satisfied. 

Valerian remains peacefully silent all the way from the steps of the Congregation of Our Knights Most Heavenly to Aymeric’s personal estate, where he reaches past the readily available servant at the door in order to open the door for Aymeric himself. 

Ordinarily, Aymeric would ask for his senior staff member to head down to the wine cellar himself in order to select a beverage worthy of the man who had fought to bring peace to Ishgard. 

However.. Even if it seems forward of him, Aymeric doesn’t want any others present for what would hopefully be a wonderful evening. Unobtrusively, he dismisses them for the day. 

“Valerian?” Aymeric prompts, hoping to resume their normal camaraderie. “Do you have any preferences for what kind of wine?” 

“Ser Aymeric..” 

“Please, it’s just Aymeric.” In some ways, Valerian makes him appreciate why some people thought his overly formal manners a bit too much. 

Not that he thought they were right, though. 

“Aymeric.” Valerian’s slow voice seems to curl around his name. 

The immediate correction is...new. 

“I wanted to tell you.. Since I’m so worried about being called away..”

Aymeric’s heart drops. 

Valerian leans in, his hand reaching his hand around the back of Aymeric’s head in order to bring it closer to Valerian’s shorter height. Valerian’s breath puffs against Aymeric’s cheek as he speaks. 

“It might be better to just skip the wine.” 

Aymeric has often thought that being around Valerian was like stepping into a different world, where any request, no matter how impossible, was but one step away from completion. But this.. For all of his offers to Valerian, he has never dared to extend that sense of inevitability to his personal wants. 

With Estinien gone... it’s been a while, for him. He tries not to dwell on it. 

Aymeric realizes, a bit belatedly, that Valerian is waiting on his answer. 

He reaches his hand out, fingers skimming through Valerian’s hair. Yet he can’t bring himself to bridge the final gap, a coward in this one moment as fear that even now he could be ruining one of his most precious friendships spills through his heart. He can’t bear to lose another. 

Valerian smiles at him, leaning his head into Aymeric’s fingers. 

“I...” As he always does, Aymeric finds courage within those violet eyes. “Promise to be very gentle.” 

Valerian winks at him. It’s the first time he’s ever done that to Aymeric, and hopefully heart failure won’t cause it to be the last. 

“I promise to be just a _little_ rough.” 

In stark contrast to his own words, Valerian’s hands are a light whisper against Aymeric’s cheek and neck as he goes for a kiss. Heat seems to collect on Aymeric’s lips and pour down his throat, filling his entire body with a flushed warmth. His armour, properly insulated for a Coerthian winter, now seems absolutely stifling. 

He withdraws from the kiss, gasping a little, and feels yet more warmth run through him at the regret in Valerian’s eyes, and the dark flush that colors his dusky skin. 

“I have to.. Get out of this,” that sounds wrong, somehow. “Ah, I mean-- my bedroom is back this way--” That sounds worse. He used to be really good at talking to men he was attempting to seduce. What happened? 

Memories of his first time speaking to Valerian cross his mind, and he flushes further. Gods, what an embarrassing memory. Haurchefaunt hadn’t warned him that Valerian was...Well, he’d thought the Lord of Dragonhead to be engaged in his usual dramatic exaggerations. 

“Do you mind If I--,” Valerian’s speech seems unusually rushed, his precise, harsh consonants softening as they blend together. He reaches one of his hands to take a firm grip around Aymeric’s back, and the other scoops down to be a second bar against Aymeric’s thighs as he picks him up, full armour and all. 

Ah. 

“I’ve been working out,” Valerian is saying to him, pleased and happy. Aymeric wishes he could hear him more clearly through the roaring in his ears from the flames he’s sure are scalding his neck and cheeks right now. _Please_ , Valerian. It might be fair play for what he did to Estinien, but! 

Aymeric kisses him again. The warrior of light can find one bedroom without aid, surely? Surely. Both of his hands slip around Valerian’s shoulders, pulling him closer. He tastes like hot chocolate and sugar, sweet all the way through. 

Valerian makes a muffled noise Aymeric chooses not to interpret as a request for direction, and continues to hold Aymeric like he weighs nothing as he heads down the hall, steps finally coming to a halt. Finally, he pulls back from the kiss, gasping a little. 

“Aymeric, you need to open the door I don't.. Have any free hands..” 

_You could put me down._

Aymeric doesn’t say that. Instead, he doesn’t even want to look away from Valerian’s face, freeing one hand from to fumble around behind him for the handle. It makes him feel oddly young, being so clumsy and clingy like the teenage self he’d long left behind. He feels the handle click open and immediately puts his hand back on Valerian, feeling the shift of his muscles beneath the thin shirt he wears. 

Valerian laughs a little, a small hiccup of joy as he kicks the door shut behind him. 

“You’ll have to show me how to undo your armour, Aymeric. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, but I really don’t understand how it works.” 

Fury have mercy, Aymeric was never going to be able to look Valerian in the eye ever again. 

“It’s, uh, really simple, Valerian. If you’ll put me down, I can show you...” 

“Okay.” 

Valerian gently places him on the edge of the bed, the smile that comes to infrequently to his face having never once faded since he kissed Aymeric for the first time. Then, he kneels down in front of him. 

Looking up from his position on his knees, his smile seems to widen even further, crinkling the edges of his eyes. He’s incandescent in his happiness, and it makes Aymeric long to be able to shoulder just a little of the burden that presses down on those lips outside of his humble home. 

It also makes Aymeric uncomfortably aware of the tightness in his pants. 

“Well? How do I start?” There’s humour in Valerian’s airy question, but he’s also dead serious, patiently waiting for instruction. Aymeric has to close his eyes in order to hold himself back, but quickly reopens them, unwilling to miss the view. 

“There’s two buckles, around the back of the legs. Valerian, my dear friend, I am more than capable of taking off my own armour..”

“Yes, but I’ve wanted to do this since I first saw you.” 

The honesty-- and blatant acknowledgement of attraction-- blindsides Aymeric. He’s sure the lord of the Inferno’s flames couldn’t be as hot as his face feels right now. Caught off guard, he can’t suppress the shiver that comes with feeling Valerians hands on his calves, carefully undoing and sliding off each part of his own armour. 

“And the pants?” Valerian continues to ask. “How should I get those off?” 

_“Valerian.”_

The smile he gets is blazing, infectious. 

“The belt, then.” 

It’s a difficult angle for Valerian to reach, but not impossible. Aymeric lets him do it, resting his hands back on Valerian’s head and shoulders. He runs a thumb down Valerian’s cheek, tracing it along the long scar that cuts below Valerian’s left eye. Like last time, the savior of Ishgard leans in to the light touch, letting his head rest heavy in Aymerics hand, his eyes closing a little in pleasure. Meanwhile, his hands make quick work of Aymeric’s belt. With a final tug it comes free, and Valerian looks up at Aymeric with heavy eyes. 

He licks his lips. 

“Hey, Aymeric. There’s something else I’ve been wanting to do since I first saw you.” 

This man is going to be the death of him. 

“Anything,” Aymeric offers, reckless and hopeful. 

“Thank you.” Valerian shuffles closer, his knees practically against the edge of the bed. His fingers curl through Aymeric’s belt loops, and give a small tug, just enough to bring them down a couple of ilms.  
Aymeric’s been carefully ignoring the signals that Valerian has been giving for the sake of preserving both his dignity and sanity. But at this point it is, quite literally, too hard to ignore. 

“Are you _sure _\--”__

__“I’m really very good at this,” Valerian says, reassuringly. He’s said that same thing about fighting primals, and if he’s as confident in this as he is in that, then Aymeric is in danger indeed._ _

__When Valerian’s hand settles around the base of his cock, Aymeric is forced to stare up at the ceiling, empty hands grasping and closing on air as he struggles with his own reaction. On his honor, he refuses to embarrass himself in by so quickly bringing this moment of intimacy to an early end._ _

__“You can hold on to me,” Valerian says, voice lilting ever so slightly with something Aymeric cannot recognize. “I don’t mind.” He’s smiling, but his eyes are.. Focused, heavy lidded and almost glazed. Realizing his eyes have once more strayed, Aymeric looks away again, but cannot stop the urge of his hands to settle on Valerians shoulders._ _

__He can feel the puffs of air on the insides of his thighs as Valerian breaths._ _

__When Estinien had done this, Aymeric had had to show him what to do, while he made bitter remarks to hide his own inexperience. It is a precious memory to Aymeric, of two souls fumbling in the dark.  
Aymeric bites the inside of his cheek as Valerian places a kiss on the inside of his thigh, strands of his hair falling so they sweep across the increasingly sensitive flesh of his dick. _ _

__“ _Valerian_ ,” He had hoped for more dignity and less the sense of being strangled, but this is a bit much, isn’t it? The hand that Valerian had kept around the base tightens just a little further, enough that Aymeric knows that his fears of ending this early were... misplaced. _ _

__“Yes, Aymeric?”_ _

__He can’t. He can’t seriously be waiting for Aymeric to ask him to..  
Aymeric stares down at Valerian’s patient violet eyes, and feels that endless hunger rise up. He is, isn’t he. Thoughts, teenage longing he’d long pushed down, the envy of listening to Haurchefaunt, of never daring to stray too long with any of his former partners--_ _

__Valerian would give him anything._ _

__He only has to..._ _

__“My _dearest_ champion.” Aymeric swallows, but he can’t swallow the rush of prickling heat that spreads through him faster than the most infectious fever. “Please... I would feel your mouth, on me.” Halone protect him. “And I would want you to.. That is,” he can feel the flush turn his face a scarlet to match Estinien’s armour. “Fuck me.” _ _

__Valerian’s eyes widen, as Aymeric immediately decides to abandon his post as Lord Commander to escape the embarrassment, and he smiles, more dazzling than watching the dawn rise over Ishgard._ _

__“I’ll carry you if you can’t walk tomorrow.”_ _

__Then his mouth closes over Aymeric’s cock, and Aymeric loses a bit of time._ _

__When Aymeric manages to come back to his surroundings, it's to an unfamiliar sound-- that of little, aching bites of sound that are coming from his own throat. Valerian is unfairly good at this, alternating between careful licks, caresses, and..sucks, all while his one hand remains firm at the base, making sure that even if Aymeric feels wildly out of control, there’s one thing that won’t happen, no matter how badly he wants it._ _

__He somewhat suspects that without Valerian’s...aid, this would already be over. A shameful fact that does nothing but increase the coiled heat that builds and builds within him. Outside of his control, his fingers have come closer to forming claws around Valerian’s shoulders, and his breathes just seem to get louder, no matter how hard he tries to push them down._ _

__With all of this whirling around in his head, it still manages to startle him when Valerian pulls away, using his free hand to wipe a bit of saliva from the corner of this mouth._ _

__“Aymeric?” His voice is hoarse from..._ _

__Lust spikes through him in a harsh, gutting blow. He wants this man so desperately. Wants to take care of him, tuck his head in his neck, whisper sweet things in his ear, kneel down and kiss the bones in his ankles, straddle his legs around his waist--_ _

__“Aymeric, you’ve gotten quiet.” Valerian rises up from his position of kneeling between Aymerics legs, sinking down in the bed as he sits beside Aymeric._ _

___And who’s fault is that?_ Aymeric tries to speak it aloud, but his voice doesn’t quite get the message, lips moving as though he were still in possession of his dignity and ability to function.  
Instead, he gives in to temptation, and tucks his face into Valerians neck. His face still redens from his own temerity. He doesn’t deserve--_ _

__Valerian wraps his arms around him._ _

__“That’s right... I forgot to remove the top part of your armour.”_ _

__The Fury cannot save him now._ _

__Sitting on the edge of the bed, Aymeric dazedly helps Valerian strip his armour away, his mind caught on the important fact that Valerian, too, has not yet undressed. He just can’t think of a good way to say it.._ _

__Valerian catches his gaze._ _

__“Thancred usually likes it when I keep some of it on,” he says, amusement plain in his tone._ _

__Aymeric has never before felt pity for Valerian’s beloved. But this truly is a night of new experiences._ _

__Unhurriedly, Valerian pulls his shirt over his head and then folds it, carefully setting it aside. Then, he reaches for his pants, removing all his accessories and setting them in a carefully organized pile one by one, til only the earrings bearing the Fortemps sigil remain to adorn him. Aymeric can’t seem to tear his gaze away, rude though it is. Like Estinien, Valerian does not often bare skin.  
Aymeric needs to burn this into his memory. Even when he realizes Valerian knows what he is doing, he can’t bring himself to stop. Only as Valerian clambers back onto the bed, and pulls Aymeric towards his lap does the world jolt back into focus. He shifts a little on top of Valerian, trying to find a better position, but every brush of skin on skin just brings his long delayed desperation more and more into focus, to the point where he  
stops from fear of what will happen at even the slightest move. _ _

__“I...” Aymeric can barely recognize his own voice. “Valerian, you have to hurry.”_ _

__Instead of receiving an answer, he instead feels Valerian’s hand wrap around his own, and then--_ _

___“Ah,”_ _ _

__Moves Aymeric’s own hand to keep the pressure around the base of his--  
_“Valerian, I...”_ _ _

__“Please, Aymeric? Just a little while longer?”_ _

__Being asked for anything by Valerian always guts him, for nothing would be enough to give to him. Being asked for this..._ _

__Aymeric takes a shuddering breath. He can do this. Even as he hears the slick sounds of Valerian opening and using a bottle of oil, as he feels the faintest flicker of magic Valerian employs to warm the oil, as he feels.._ _

__First one finger, then two-- Aymerics world narrows to two points. No matter how good it feels, Valerian said, _please, Aymeric,__ _

__He feels both of Valerian’s hands grasp around his waist, using that same strength that first allowed him to carry Aymeric into the bedroom to lift him once more and settle him_ _

__Slowly_ _

__So slowly.._ _

__Onto his cock._ _

__Instinctively, Aymeric clenches, hard._ _

__Valerian makes a choked of gasp, which ignites the last part of Aymeric’s brain. Everything's burning, now, and he just-- he just needs_ _

__“Thank you, Aymeric.” Valerian’s voice is hoarse, raw with something that right now Aymeric cannot even begin to comprehend. “You did everything... perfectly. You can let go.”_ _

__For a while, everything fades._ _

__Aymeric wakes up half an hour later, feeling an ache already forming between his legs and a slight stiffness in his back. And.. his head is resting on something.. Different?_ _

__“Shhh..” Valerian whispers, quiet and sleepily content, his voice coming from above. Ah, that’s right... he’s resting in Valerian’s lap. Everything is quiet in his head, and he feels strangely light. In an hour, he’s sure, he’ll... he’ll need to to something, but for right now.._ _

__Thank you, he wants to say, or tries to say._ _

__Either way, he’s sure Valerian heard._ _

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading! please comment


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